Public Occurrences
by CosmicSynth
Summary: Piper and the Sole Survivor go to interview a new arrival in Diamond City, but something awaits them.


Michael Caesar had been sitting at his booth all day. He yawned.

"Diamond City's a big place," he thought. "Why hasn't no one come by here yet?"

Caesar threw his question out the window when he saw someone approaching the booth. It was a short, blonde woman wearing a red leather coat and pre-war hat. Next to her was a taller man dressed in one of those Vault getups and a knapsack on his back. _Haven't seen a dweller in a while,_ Caesar mentally remarked.

The short woman spoke up. "Hi. I'm Piper, the owner of the Public Occurrences. You're new in town, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Caesar said.

"Right," Piper said. "I'd like to ask you a few questions about your booth here."

"Ask away," Caesar replied, making a hand gesture.

"Great, great. What's your name?" Piper asked.

"Michael Caesar."

"And what exactly do you sell here?"

"Scrap. Crafting materials. You know, that kind of stuff. Uh, who's the Vaulter with you?"

"Him?" Piper said, pointing to the other man with her thumb.

"Who do you think I'm referring to?" Caesar replied snidely.

Piper rolled her eyes as the dweller spoke. "I'm Howard, from Vault 111. She's uh, she's just coming back into town and showing me around."

Caesar shrugged and beckoned Piper to continue,.

"So, how long have you been in Diamond City?" she asked, pencil at the ready.

"A couple of days," Caesar answered. "I was a chemist at the Institute before they kicked me out. Traveled here, set up a bed at the common house, then got all the booth info approved by the mayor."

Piper cringed at the mention of Mayor McDonough. She and the aging official had never been on the best of terms.

"Er...mind if we take a look at your stock?" Piper requested.

Caesar nodded. "Sure, go right ahead."

Piper muttered 'Come on' to Howard, but he shook his head. "I'm fine," he said.

There were two boxes behind Caesar's booth, and Piper chose the one on the left. She took off the top and began to rub her hand around in the box. She picked up a small tube and, after no interruption from Caesar, opened it.

"Oh...that smell..." she muttered.

She stepped back, and began to wander around aimlessly before collapsing onto the ground. Howard, shocked, ran over to her in an attempt to get her back up. Caesar hopped out of his chair and pulled a 10mm pistol out of the other crate.

"You ever hear of Palominmethane, sir?" Caesar said, the gun pointed at Howard's head.

Howard, hands raised, responded, "N-no."

"Of course you haven't. I'm surprised Piper here wasn't suspicious when I said I was kicked out of the Institute. Now get the fuck out, you didn't see anything here."

Howard nodded, and ran off. He kneeled down in the street, and pulled out a small unmodified assault rifle from his knapsack. Looking around, he saw a town guard patrolling a few meters away. Putting the knapsack back on his back, he jogged over to the guard.

"Hey, I just saw this guy knock a girl unconscious at his booth, can you come help?"

"Yeah, of course," the guard said, following Howard. "What's the guy's name?"

"I think it was Mike Caesar, or something like that," Howard answered. "Hey, that's him up there!"

The two ran over to the booth and saw Caesar dragging Piper down a long alleyway. It looked like he was about to enter the back of a building.

"Freeze!" the guard shouted, pointing his rifle at Caesar. "Drop her and nobody'll have to get hurt here!"

Caesar, gun still in his hand, panicked and fired a round at the guard and Howard. However, the pistol was in his left hand, sideways, and under an unconscious body. It missed and hit the booth.

The guard fired a couple of rounds at Caesar as he began to enter the building. They also missed, and hit a chain link fence. Howard and the guard dashed down the alleyway towards the building Caesar had entered. The door was halfway open, so the two hurried inside.

When they went in the building, the two found themselves to be in a small back room, presumably used only for exits. They found Piper's unconscious body laying on the floor, and Caesar nowhere in sight. They hurried to the only other door in the room, which was also half open.

The door led to a hallway, where the two spotted Caesar sprinting to the end of it.

"Go for the leg," the guard quickly murmured to Howard.

He nodded, and aimed his assault rifle at Caesar, who was fiddling to get the door at the end open. He took the shot, and Caesar went down.

"Ah fuck! My leg!" he screamed.

Howard and the guard jogged to Caesar, still lying on the ground in pain.

"Mr. Caesar, I'm taking you in to the infirmary...the police infirmary." the guard said, putting handcuffs on the helpless man.

"You," the guard said, referring to Howard, "you can go help the woman."

Howard nodded, and left as the guard radioed in for backup on his walkie-talkie.

He sighed. "I need a new goddamn job."


End file.
